1968 Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate (2 plates)

The legend of Christmas Plates began when the wealthy people of Europe started a Christmas custom of giving each of their servants a platter heaped with fruit, cookies, candies and other good things to eat at Christmas time. In the beginning, the platters was probably a crude thing of wood and very little thought was given to the platter, more thought was placed on the platters content. The servents looked forward to receiving their platters each Christmas. Since the servants had very little in the way of riches, once the platters were empty, the servants would hang the platters on their walls and would refer to them as their "Christmas plates."

As time passed, the servants began showing their "Christmas plates" to servants of other households. When the employers realized there was a rivalry among the servants regarding who received the most beautiful plate, they began giving more consideration to the platter itself. Eventually, the platters were made of many materials, such as metal, wood and pottery -- they were carved or decoratively painted. In fact, the wealthy, in an effort to outdo each other, commenced devoting more attention to the plate itself that to its contents. The wealthy started dating their platters so that it would be easy to see which year the platter had been given. Thus, the tradition of making and giving the "Christmas Plate" began.

This is a beautiful collector plate by Kai Lange entitled "The Last Umiak" by Royal Copenhagen. The plate measures approximately 7 1/4" in diameter and has the traditional Royal Copenhagen watermark on the reverse side. There is no cracks, crazing or repairs on either plate. Neither plates comes with its original box or papers.

Any white spots in the pictures are the results of lighting conditions and from the flash of the camera.